


Bridging the Gap

by Thunderrrstruck



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Family Reunions, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Siblings, Triplets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24545026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderrrstruck/pseuds/Thunderrrstruck
Summary: One third is a flight risk. One third wants to make sure the first third never runs away like that again.
Relationships: Stephen Knope-Wyatt & Sonia Knope-Wyatt
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Bridging the Gap

**Author's Note:**

> Background: Stephen had some troubles brewing early in school, and they all came to a head a month into grad school. He dropped out and dropped off the grid entirely for two years only to miraculously show up in Pawnee one day, surprising the hell out of many, many people. He continues to ruffle feathers in his non-confrontational confrontation of problems.
> 
> More background: Stephen has gone by "Seb" casually since tenth grade.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

It takes three seconds for Stephen Sebastian Knope-Wyatt, more casually known as ‘Seb’, to be dragged to the sidewalk by his sister, Sonia. In a fluid series of motions, she grabs him by the hand and hauls his ass out the front door. He hasn’t a chance to defend himself, let alone say anything at all, before he is thrust into the blinding light of three p.m. mercilessly.

“Hey– hey– hey!” he protests, leaning back as hard as he can, but it’s not hard enough. “Watch the wrist! The wrist!”

“Not until we’re five miles from here,” Sonny insists. “That’s a reasonable amount of distance, right? You can’t run off if you’re five miles from your car.”

“ _Run_?” Seb repeated incredulously. “Okay. Okay, I think I know why you’re doing this, and let me just tell you–.”

“Save it,” Sonny interrupts. His sister has always been a whirlwind, which under different circumstances can lead to some lively nights, but she also likes understanding the emotions of the issue, and Seb just isn’t about that. Emotions should stay under wraps in the dark corners of the heart where they belong.

“Where are we _going_?” Seb tries again.

Sonny checks over her shoulder before releasing his wrist. Seb, too, checks behind him and sees that they are at the end of their street, and hidden by the curve of the street and bloated, green foliage is the front lawn of the Knope-Wyatt household. _Out of view and so far away_ , Seb notes; not to mention he _knows_ his sister is still angry at him for dropping off the face of the planet two years ago...

“I think a murder would be better done at _night_ ,” he alludes with a raised eyebrow, “don’tcha think?”

“I'm not going to _murder_ you,” she defends, already working her way to ‘exasperated’. _Good_ , Seb thinks. Because the sooner she gets worked up, the sooner he can point that out, discredit this whole pointless game, and engage in a J.J.’s diner run for some waffles. “I just want to _talk_ ,” she insists, “and I know a good place for that.”

She grabs his wrist again and takes a right at the T in the road. Barely containing his frustration at being dragged against his will, Seb's only motivation to keep her pace is the fear that he’d lose an appendage if he didn’t. Life would be hard minus his left hand, particularly because his left is his dominant side.

Before long, they arrive at a bridge, a structure of cement and stone which hops over the river and dives into Ramsett Park. Of all the entrances into the park, it’s the most exciting one (which doesn’t imply much about the others). Sonny leads him to the base and would have continued tugging had Seb not had enough and yanked his hand away.

“Great, we’re at a park,” he says in deadpan. “I’ve seen Ramsett Park before. It’s nothing really special, just a place to throw frisbees and feed squirrels. I see three old guys doing that already. So, yeah, nothing special.”

“Shut up and come on,” Sonny huffs. Biting back a series of complaints, even a few excuses, Seb shoves his hands into his pockets and hastens up the first half of the arch. He stops three feet from where Sonny leans. Her forearms press against the stone railing, her clasped hands closing into a thin triangle. “It’s a good place to think, too,” she muses. “I come here at least once a week.”

Seb whistles in response. “Wow, you have a lot of issues to ponder, sis.”

“Really?” she replies. He notes the air of exhaustion in her voice and wonders why _she’s_ the one fed up. _He_ is the one who was dragged against his will! If anything, it should be _Seb_ who lets out a heavy sigh and just barely refrains from an eye roll. So, he does if only to show her that the feeling is mutual.

“What?” he bites back perhaps a little harsher than he means.

“Can you please just drop your ‘funny’ antics for five minutes?” she demands.

“Why do you say it like that?” He mocks the word to emphasise his point: “ _‘funny’_.”

“Look, I’m just not in the mood!”

He’ll admit: he has been away awhile, and he might have forgotten a few of the more trivial aspects of his family’s personality. However, some things, he will never forget. Like, how every time Sonia snaps or raises her voice, it’s a warning for the soaring fist that will follow should she continue to be pressed in a direction she doesn’t want to be pressed in. He also remembers that she is a far cry away from being a violent person (despite the chaos which surrounds her life and the hurricane of her personality).

“Would you just tell me, straightforward, – just spit it out – why, by god, I’ve been hauled all the way from home to _here_?! On a bridge! In the sweltering heat!”

The glare he receives makes him long to take back his words. All his words. All which he has ever spoken before in his life. ( _Scratch this, scratch all of this, Sonny and Wes can just be twins. They don’t need me! Bye!_ ) He scrunches himself away from her, anticipating a punch to the nose. He imagines the blood gushing down his face. He can see the reins slackening in her mind, allowing her to finally let loose. He notes the two balls of fingers by her side and how their knuckles glow with white strain.

But she doesn’t raise either to punch him.

Slowly, Seb untenses himself but continues to eye her warily.

“I’m not going to _punch_ you, Seb,” she chides. “I definitely just thought about it, but I have something called impulse control, now.”

“That’s a first.”

“Maybe you should try it.”

 _Cold_ , he thinks. _Not matter how fair it is_.

Mustering in a breath, Seb tries to bridge (no pun intended) the chasm of hurt between them, hopefully bypassing her frustration at him along the way, but he has no idea what to say. After two seconds, he closes his mouth again. Sonny turns away.

“I wanted to talk. You and me, unfiltered, like old times, when we were kids and happy and carefree,” she admits.

Seb flounders for a second. “About... anything. Anything at all?”

“Like that,” she confirms. “I know you don’t like sharing your emotions, and you probably get enough pushing with Wes and Mom; even Dad can be pushy sometimes. I’m trying not to fall into the habit. If I do, that’s everybody, and we’re going to lose you again. I don’t want that.”

Seb subtly bobs his head. His eyes pick up on a duck fidgeting on the banks of the river, and he stares at it more attently than he’d ever stare at a person. Especially not a person being so vulnerable. Somewhere deep in his psyche, he notes her sentiments of care. 

“I need my antics back to reply to that,” he says, continuing to watch the duck. (In his defense, ducks are cute!)

Sonny sighs – and Seb is almost all the way positive it’s a sigh of show, not belief – and says, “You may have your antics back.”

“Suh- _weet_!” He takes up position next to Sonny by leaning against the stone. “So, where do we begin? How do we talk unrestrainededly?” He sneaks a tiny glimpse of his sister out of the corner of his eye and smirks. A gentle smirk. A happy smirk. Small in nature and as genuine as he’d ever manage to be.

It’s a beautiful day; the sun is shining, the river is sparkling, and the water fowl are being adorable. More importantly than that, there’s one person not pushing Seb against his will. In Sonia, he finds acceptance. For that, he’s glad.


End file.
